Councillors were poised last night (Wednesday) to suggest a residents-only parking scheme be introduced to the County Roads area of Harrow.

The proposed controlled parking zone (CPZ) is being touted as the solution to the worsening parking problems suffered by those living in the residential streets to the north of Pinner Road.

Yet traders and some residents are unhappy, saying the viability of local shops could be threatened if customers lost the ability to stop conveniently and for free nearby.

Nevertheless, Harrow Council's traffic and road safety advisory panel has been recommended to tell Councillor Susan Hall (Conservative), portfolio holder for environment and community safety, to proceed with the scheme.

New short-stay pay-and-display bays would be added to side roads off Pinner Road, while the waiting and loading restrictions on Pinner Road itself would be extended.

Shai Koria, the 42-year-old general manager of Harrow Glass in Pinner Road, and a representative of both the Pinner Road Small Business Group, and Rutland Road and Bedford Road residents, lambasted the proposals.

He said: "In the current form, we don't feel it's been thoroughly thought through. We, as the small business group, aren't anti-safety, nor are we anti-parking facilities, but it appears that the business is being driven away, and this will destroy the community."

There are concerns about the small number of spaces allocated for shop-pers, which could all be filled by residents with permits anyway, while Mr Koria said it was "perplexing" that the council insisted parking problems were leaving the streets choked with cars.